2020 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix - Imola, Oct 31 - Nov 01

[Edax]

Yeah thanks for sharing that message. Honestly, I’d heard of the crash in qualifying but didn’t know much about it or about the driver. Reading that had me shedding a tear so I watched the entire quali session from that day YouTube. Absolutely devastating scenes. Also (obviously a different time and whatever) but quite disrespectful I felt? They showed them providing CPR on him (multiple times). That is an indication that he’s not breathing... I feel like they should have cut away immediately, but they just kept returning to it. Quite horrific really. Also my fault for watching it but hey here we are

I’ve been watching racing since the 70’s and have seen plenty of terrible stuff but this one got to me.

I liked the Simtec team. They didn’t have a chance, but the whole attitude around the team, the bold 80’s MTV livery, made you root for them regardless.

And then there was this weekend. I never have watched it back, no need to, I can still vividly remember the car rotating off the barrier, and the shock that that the safety cell was open, shortly followed by the realization I was looking at someone dying.

I turned off the TV. Next day I couldn’t get myself to watch the race so I only heard on the news of Senna’s accident. It did not surprise me. They should have pulled the race after Barrichello’s crash. It was clear that the track was not compatible with these cars.

To be frank I never completely felt comfortable with F1 returning there, even with all the changes and all the improvements on the cars.

[search]

it'll be interesting to see tomorrow how much of an advantage the Red Bull cars will have due to the Alpha Tauri test in June. The track design probably plays a bit too much into Mercedes' hands for Verstappen to really challenge them, but with just one practice session... who knows. He has been fairly close in qualifying over the past two weekends (although less so in the races)

[godlameroso]

I can get behind that kind of order in the race. Some takeaways from my experience, the power of new tires is incredible around here, a late pit stop will make you very fast indeed. The one stop will be the preferred strategy, but a two stop is almost as fast, because you gain a second per lap for 20 laps. The difference between the soft and medium is only a few laps, and nearly zero pace difference, the soft will come up to temperature quicker however. One could qualify on either tire. From there the choice becomes when to go on the hard and for how long. If you do 24-28 laps with the soft or medium, you'll have to do 35 with the hard. Obviously doable, but what about doing a soft medium medium race? 17-23-23 easy to do, forget tire management and push like hell the whole way. The cartoon straight, the high drag cars, means it won't be impossible to overcome traffic, especially with the pace difference of new tires.

Then there's always the possibility of a safety car, track is narrow, and the midfield is very close, so lots at stake, no one will want to give ground.

[godlameroso]

it'll be interesting to see tomorrow how much of an advantage the Red Bull cars will have due to the Alpha Tauri test in June. The track design probably plays a bit too much into Mercedes' hands for Verstappen to really challenge them, but with just one practice session... who knows. He has been fairly close in qualifying over the past two weekends (although less so in the races)

They'll definitely have an advantage with the power unit, the corners require a lot of braking stability. You also need a really sharp front end and good change of direction.

It's really close between the two chassis of Mercedes and Red Bull around here, it'll be extremely interesting to see how close it is because the difference will be down to power unit and driver. I don't see anyone having issues making the tires work, and it's not windy at all.

Traction is not really an issue around here either, as putting down the power is a matter of navigating the corners, in other words it's more to do with driver skill on the entry and mid corner phase setting up the exit.

You notice on the chicanes how sacrificing a little on braking can help you carry more speed through to the exit. So having less drag and arriving at the corner faster, means you have to brake sooner to give yourself more time to setup the exit. Having more drag means you have to brake deeper into the corner because you arrive slower and have to use more of your focus and skill to set the car up for the exit in less time than if you brake earlier. Both ways are equally fast, but the latter is considerably more difficult.

Consider this in a race scenario, which one is easier to do consistently over 63 laps? So a slower car can be faster than a faster one if the difference is only a few tenths from the engine, and the driver in the slower car has more consistent ability to focus over a race distance. Of course if the other driver is just as skilled or more so, then it's a moot point, because the car has an obvious speed advantage.

[Schippke]

Personally, regarding practice... I think they should've stretched out to a 2 Hour Practice Session instead of the standard FP1/FP2 1.5 hour session. An additional 30 minutes of cars on this track would've been awesome, and give the teams (and Pirelli for that matter) some extra data, plus more time seeing the cars on track. No doubt the track will be packed for those 1.5 hours, but I'd equally wager that you'd see the same result in a 2 hour session. Anyway, first world problem I know!

Not expecting too many surprises here regarding the Top 3... although it'll be interesting to see how Alpha Tauri perform having tested here earlier this year. No doubt they'll have some useful data to go off, which will be vital considering the lack of practice. As someone mentioned before, Red Bull might've gotten a hold of some of that information too... so maybe a slight advantage towards them as well?

Also interested to see if Ferrari (well, Charles lets me honest ) will continue their stronger showing of form as of late, with more upgrades planned for this weekend. They reckon the track will suit their car, although considering the length of that straight and the uphill section/s, they might loose out a bit there. Hence my reasoning that Mercedes will probably love it... they'll most likely be able to run more downforce without the worry of getting passed on the straight and blitzing it through the bends.

Mind you, Ferrari would know this track incredibly well too, having all sorts of cars (previous generation F1 cars, their fleet of production and GT cars) pounding laps around, so something to go off there too.

[PlatinumZealot]

Agreed. I'm really looking forward to Ferrari this week. And Renault of course.

[JPBD1990]

I’ve been watching racing since the 70’s and have seen plenty of terrible stuff but this one got to me.

I liked the Simtec team. They didn’t have a chance, but the whole attitude around the team, the bold 80’s MTV livery, made you root for them regardless.

And then there was this weekend. I never have watched it back, no need to, I can still vividly remember the car rotating off the barrier, and the shock that that the safety cell was open, shortly followed by the realization I was looking at someone dying.

I turned off the TV. Next day I couldn’t get myself to watch the race so I only heard on the news of Senna’s accident. It did not surprise me. They should have pulled the race after Barrichello’s crash. It was clear that the track was not compatible with these cars.

To be frank I never completely felt comfortable with F1 returning there, even with all the changes and all the improvements on the cars.

That’s another thing I was shocked by. A man getting CPR on live TV and the commentators talking about when the session would get back underway, I was absolutely shocked. At one point one of the commentators even asked the ‘producer back in France’ to stop showing the images - I think as time went on they started to understand that he wasn’t going to be walking around the next day like Rubens.

To think, if the race was cancelled after Rubens crash demonstrated the unsuitability of the track on Friday - history could be entirely different.

I started watching in 2005 so the only tragedy I have personally witnessed was that of Jules Bianchi but they do stay with you

[donskar]

Yeah thanks for sharing that message. Honestly, I’d heard of the crash in qualifying but didn’t know much about it or about the driver. Reading that had me shedding a tear so I watched the entire quali session from that day YouTube. Absolutely devastating scenes. Also (obviously a different time and whatever) but quite disrespectful I felt? They showed them providing CPR on him (multiple times). That is an indication that he’s not breathing... I feel like they should have cut away immediately, but they just kept returning to it. Quite horrific really. Also my fault for watching it but hey here we are

I’ve been watching racing since the 70’s and have seen plenty of terrible stuff but this one got to me.

I liked the Simtec team. They didn’t have a chance, but the whole attitude around the team, the bold 80’s MTV livery, made you root for them regardless.

And then there was this weekend. I never have watched it back, no need to, I can still vividly remember the car rotating off the barrier, and the shock that that the safety cell was open, shortly followed by the realization I was looking at someone dying.

I turned off the TV. Next day I couldn’t get myself to watch the race so I only heard on the news of Senna’s accident. It did not surprise me. They should have pulled the race after Barrichello’s crash. It was clear that the track was not compatible with these cars.

To be frank I never completely felt comfortable with F1 returning there, even with all the changes and all the improvements on the cars.

I had a similar experience -- Bandini at Monaco. I've never been quite the same.

[Schippke]

Did I hear that right from the commentators? As of 2022, Parc Fermé will be active as of Thursday instead of ahead of qualifying?

Sorry, but that sounds like an absolute joke.

[MtthsMlw]

Did I hear that right from the commentators? As of 2022, Parc Fermé will be active as of Thursday instead of ahead of qualifying?

Sorry, but that sounds like an absolute joke.

Yes it's stupid. Another measure to bring costs down. Will change the way teams bring updates to the track.

[JPBD1990]

This track is incredible. It feels like a dream version of F1 watching them around here. The beautiful setting, the track undulations, the speed of the cars. Now I get Imola, despite its tragic history. Seeing this in HD literally feels like a privilege. I haven’t felt like this about F1 in a while... Portimao, imola, Mugello... all tracks F1 would never dream of coming to just feel SO good, somehow so authentic.

[JPBD1990]

Just LOOKING at the cars drive this track makes me forget the fact that there’s a 1.3 second gap to the top 3. Not encouraging for a good race, but still a spectacle.

[Fulcrum]

Hamilton to Aston Martin / Racing Point confirmed.

[Shrieker]

Anyone got any onboard laps ?

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